Speakeasy forum: Why Terrorists Hate America

Why do terrorists hate America enough to give up their lives in order to deal the country such mortal blows? Of course it,s not America the terrorists hate; it,s American foreign policy. It,s what the United States has done to the world in the past half century -- all the violence, the bombings, the depleted uranium, the cluster bombs, the assassinations, the promotion of torture, the overthrow of governments, and more. The terrorists -- whatever else they might be -- are also rational human beings; which is to say that in their own minds they have a rational justification for their actions. Most terrorists are people deeply concerned by what they see as social, political or religious injustice and hypocrisy, and the immediate grounds for their terrorism is often retaliation for an action of the United States.

"William Blum left the State Department in 1967, abandoning his aspiration of becoming a Foreign Service Officer, because of his opposition to what the United States was doing in Vietnam.

He then became one of the founders and editors of the Washington Free Press, the first "alternative" newspaper in the capital. In 1969, he wrote and published an expos of the CIA in which was revealed the names and addresses of more than 200 employees of the Agency. Mr. Blum has been a freelance journalist in the United States, Europe and South America. His stay in Chile in 1972-3, writing about the Allende government's "socialist experiment" and its tragic overthrow in a CIA-designed coup, instilled in him a personal involvement and an even more heightened interest in what his government was doing in various parts of the world. In the mid-1970's, he worked in London with former CIA officer Philip Agee and his associates on their project of exposing CIA personnel and their misdeeds. The late 1980s found Mr. Blum living in Los Angeles, teaching and pursuing a career as a screenwriter. Unfortunately, his screenplays all had two (if not three) strikes against them because they dealt with that thing which makes grown men run screaming in Hollywood: ideas and issues.

for the help we give the world? I heard the President is asking for ANOTHER BILLION dollars to give to the ingrates that want to make sure we leave their water logged country after signing all the checks.

I truly don't know. He has been asked this question before, but there is no answer. Maybe if Charlie would share with us why he is so disenchanted with the country he chose to live in, it would be easier to deal with the constant negative posting about such.

I find it disheartening, to say the least, to see so much of this. I can see it as nothing more than an attempt to be disruptive. But maybe there's more to it than has been said by Charlie, himself.

Maybe Charlie should at least start a thread in regard to why he chose to live in America and the good that has come from this choice - or at least why something so disagreeable was his only choice. Is there anything that Charlie can say about America that is positive - such as Freedom of Speech, for example?

It is sad that someone is so truly unhappy on such a large scale.

Would you like to take this opportunity, Charlie, to say something that would help us understand?

If I were to post topics, sometimes 2, 4, 10 a day, that were in support of the Ku Klux Klan, would you not then begin to wonder if I agreed with their stated beliefs?

I wouldn't have to come right out and say "I AM A KKK SUPPORTER!" for one to infer that from my posts. The members here would have the right, then, to ask me my actual position on this subject. I could choose to tell them why I supported the KKK. I could choose to say "I just like posting this stuff 'cause it ticks y'all off!" I could choose to respond that they are mistaken because I NEVER ACTUALLY SAID I supported the KKK, regardless of what I choose to post.

Methinks you choose to follow the latter "excuse" when you are asked:

WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT THE UNITED STATES, CHARLIE? AND WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO POST SUCH OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE THINGS ABOUT THE US?

You said: "If you could only link to ONE single post of mine where I claim to hate America.."

They hate us because we have choices. They want to impose their world-view on the world. They kill more Muslims than Americans. They believe that they are right and they want to destroy everyone that doesn't believe as they do.

any country which has a system/ideology that allows women to vote, dress the way they want, work in an office with men without covering themselves from head to foot is a "target".....get used to the idea!!

that said hes out to destroy democracy your a man to be pityied charlie you crave atention that you didnt get as a child.im sorry that your unhappy maybe you should go home to sweeden and embrace your parents and then maybe you can get the love and atention you need

We might have similar notions. Being born free and nurtured in a society of tolerance and freedom gives us our perspectives on the world. There are some here that propose radical extermination of terrorists to which I wonder had they been born under similar circumstances whould they not be one of those they condemn so vehemently? Who can tell? I do not condone any radical act as a political or "religious" statement but not having walked in their shoes I find it difficult to judge them - and as I have not been so appointed by God it is not my place to do so.

Not belittling your observations at all, Patrick; in fact, FWIW, I agree with you to a certain extent.

"What if" I had been born in Iraq and raised as a Muslim with "radical belief" parents? "What if" I had been born a male-child to Saddam Hussein? "What if" I had been raised in the home of KKK members? "What if" I had been raised in an orphanage, or as an abused child .... or ....

Honestly? I don't know, because none of those "What if's" have been part of my life. I feel as if I have been blessed with where I live, my background, the opportunities I have had, etc.

I can no more give you an idea of what my thoughts or beliefs would be as an Iraqi-born citizen than I could for a serial killer. One of those concepts that you can't fully know unless you experience it, I suppose. Doesn't mean, however, that I cannot have an opinion about what it means in regard to their behavior.

IOW, I can state I disagree with a KKK member's beliefs, but I would not do to one of them what they do to those they disagree with. Same with the other scenarios above.

Not trying to shut down discussion - just inject some rationality. All of our opinions are based on our own experience and it's difficult to truly view the world through the eyes of others. Part of the reason I inhabit this forum is to hear the opinion of the varied members. I take responsibility for my own conclusions

if this is true All of our opinions are based on our own experience then this --> it's difficult to truly view the world through the eyes of others is not part of the equation....

if "my" opinions are based on a society where rape murder torture suicide bombing or beheading someone because i don't like him is wrong, then i don't need to see the world through the eyes of a rapist murderer etc etc.... i merely allow myself to judge "them" through "my" criteria...

I have to state, however, that there are for me certain things in this old world that are obvious right / wrong situations and actions. I don't have to live them or understand where the victim or perpetrator may be coming from to draw that conclusion.

I'm not talking about the "gray areas" that are openly debated right here in SE - I'm talking about things such as persecution and murder JUST BECAUSE of a persons religion, gender, etc; or child abuse; or elder abuse. There are certain things that you don't have to live it or view it in any way shape or form to know that it's JUST WRONG.

Not only terrorist hates America, even none terrorist, local American hates their own country. We hear the world hates America and the Americans hate everyone who hates America.

I'm not disagreeing with the validity of your story Charlie...I just feel that the people of world pretty much hate each other for what big or little things that everyone does...sympathetic hate, contaminant hate, blind hate, radical hates, suspicious hate... Oh! Man! Some people even hate themselves enough to kill themselves.

Hate... hate ... hate... hate.... slowly the echo fades.

If we make friends with the enemies to achieve peace, people are going to hate us for doing so. Kill the enemies; people will even hate us for it.

Hate... hate ... hate... hate.... slowly the echo fades.

Can somebody tell me where I can hide from all the "hate" filled people of the world? Please... no one suggest inside the TV -- some suggestion a little convenient than that.

EARLTOWN, N.S. (CP) - The Hermit of Gully Lake has finally left the woods that were his home, refuge and security blanket for almost 60 years.

The RCMP confirmed Monday that human remains found late last month in remote woods in central Nova Scotia are those of Willard Kitchener MacDonald, an 87-year-old recluse who lived alone there since jumping a troop train during the Second World War. The Mounties, in a news release, said a birth certificate and other items found on the remains confirmed MacDonald's identity.

Probably they have to hate something. The "hate" is just the excuse for their actions. There is allways excuse, but the truth is terorist are terorist, no matter what they say. It is all about terror. Unfortinatly.

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